With Princess Jin as a travel companion this time around through the vortex, he could stay conscious throughout the trip. Not that there was anything interesting to see. There were occasional swirls of something hazy that they passed through without issue, but other than that, it was all just darkness.

William suspected the princess had something to do with that. There was nothing as obvious as the Qi shroud that kept him undetected by the serpent. Still, he could feel the slight tingle on his skin that accompanied foreign Qi touching him.

“We’re almost there,” Princess Jin said quietly as she stared into the distance, “Trust in me, Wei Liang.”

He did. Even more so after her actions before they left the secret realm, but he didn’t get the chance to reply.

William saw a white light appear ahead. It seemed to be at the edge of his vision, but before he knew it, the darkness of the vortex disappeared to reveal a stretch of grassy land below them. Four people seemed to have been waiting for them since they immediately stood up and stared at them.

William and Princess Jin were steadily descending to the ground in a controlled matter, again, because of her new capabilities. Ren Bo apparently had other means.

“Stay still, you stupid beast!”

A very familiar spirit beast was snarling ferociously as it tried to dislodge the boy using it as a mount. The boy and beast sped past them as they dropped like a rock. But that was more than enough for William to see Ren Bo’s status and the beast he was riding.

[Name: Ren Bo | Level: 41]

[Name: Draebern | Level: 49]

He could see that whatever Ren Bo went through in the secret realm, it hadn’t been the smooth ride he had assumed the boy would experience. Scars littered his body, with his robes in tatters and looking like they would disintegrate the more he fought with the Draebern.

William glanced at Princess Jin, who looked like she couldn’t be bothered to try and help Ren Bo. She already disliked him when she was in the Qi Gathering Realm. Now that she might as well be a literal goddess, as Ren Bo was fond of calling her, compared to her weaker self, it wasn’t surprising that she didn’t lift a finger to help.

Thankfully, it wasn’t necessary. A person on the ground made their move.

The snarls of the Draebern abruptly cut off, and so was its head. Ren Bo was casually lifted off the still-falling dead beast and directed to land on the ground gently. The dead Draebern, on the other hand, crashed into the ground with a sickening crunch.

William and Princess Jin landed soon after, with the two men and two women bowing deeply to the princess.

“Congratulations on completing your first Shard, Princess Jin!”

“Brother Liang! Goddess Prin-URKH!”

William winced when Ren Bo started clutching at his throat before he dropped to all fours. Still the same old Ren Bo with little to no self-control. If anything, it got worse if he thought being so familiar with the princess was acceptable when four cultivators bowed to her.

“Mind your manners, boy.” A woman named Ying said harshly without changing her position.

He quickly glanced at their basic status, and they all had something similar. Their names were viewable, but their level had question marks. What threw him off was that all the names were a single word. These must be the guards that Princess Jin mentioned, and they were now weaker than her.

This would be an interesting interaction.

“Thank you, Kai,” Princess Jin said with a slight nod, “Rise. All of you.”

William fidgeted in his spot when a few guards gave him odd looks as if they were evaluating his worth. That didn’t last more than a moment before they all focused on the princess.

“We have alerted the Lord of your return, Princess Jin,” Kai reported, “He would have waited for you, but he is needed in the city. The Imperial Protectors have been involved in the investigation of the unscheduled entry into the Shard. They have been waiting for your return.”

“I see,” Princess Jin acknowledged stiffly, “How serious is it?”

“It initially involved the rank and file, but something has changed recently,” Kai’s voice wavered, “The Lord Protector himself has arrived.”

William assumed that this ‘Lord Protector’ was not the serpent. Not when Lord Paddlington has likely taken its life. Perhaps this was a title given to the one with the highest position outside the obvious. That gave him chills. If that guess was true, someone with power only dwarfed by the Emperor and perhaps the Empire’s Elders had arrived.

Princess Jin didn’t bother to hide her nervousness as she took a deep breath. “Very well. Let’s return to the city. I’m in dire need of a change of clothes. And so are my companions.”

“Of course,” Kai said immediately before turning to a woman named Mei and ordering, “Prepare the spirit boat for travel.”

William wasn’t fazed at the sudden appearance of a luxurious spirit boat ten times the size Ren Bo had pulled out before the secret realm. Nor did he protest the rough way Ren Bo was picked up.

“Wait! My ingredients! Bring that beast along!”

They must have felt some pity for him since the decapitated Draebern, both the body and the head, disappeared. Likely into a storage pouch or a spatial object.

“We will be at Xuanjing City shortly, Princess Jin. May I have permission to give you access to the spirit boat?”

Princess Jin wordlessly held out her hand. Kai pressed his thumb in the center of her palm before he flinched back like he was electrocuted.

“N-Nascent Soul?” Kai stammered, “How? Princess-No, Your Highness, have you truly reached the Nascent Soul Realm?”

It looked like Kai didn’t trust his own senses. William didn’t blame him. He had personally experienced the ridiculous way Princess Jin had risen to her current cultivation, and even he could barely believe it.

“It seems that I have, though I sense that something is missing. I need to ask grandfather about it.”

“Of course,” Kai nodded, still in awe, “I’m sure the lord will be ecstatic! Your Highness, this means you will be free.”

“Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves,” Princess Jin held up a hand to stop Kai from speaking further, “Give Wei Liang access so we can stop wasting time.”

“Yes!”

William had been standing quietly to the side, and he stayed quiet as he held out his hand. His eye twitched when Kai put more pressure on his palm than was necessary.

“Your Highness, this boy had his arms around your venerable self.”

“And?” Princess Jin moved to stand between Kai and William, acting as a sort of barrier as they walked to the waiting spirit boat.

“You are no longer as before, Your Highness. The penalty for such a thing is the removal of the limbs.”

William already felt like Kai had something against both him and Ren Bo. The eagerness in the man’s voice when talking about limb removal only confirmed this further. When he first came to this world, he got a quest to make Elder Huang kneel because the man spoke rudely.

He wished a side quest was offered now. One that involved Kai and something much worse than simple kneeling. It would be deserved for casually suggesting that cutting off his arms like it was reasonable.

This was besides the fact that William could probably regrow the arms with pills. Kai didn’t know that.

“I’m not aware of Wei Liang acting so brazen,” Princess Jin stared threateningly at Kai, “This must be your hallucination, and I will not appreciate it if anyone else says something so untrue.”

Kai received the message and straightened his back before nodding firmly, “Understood, Your Highness.”

William really should continue to stay silent. There was no reason to speak to someone who clearly held ill will toward him, but he knew that staying quiet would be an expected thing shortly. Especially if individuals ranked as high as this Lord Protector were near him.

After almost meeting death multiple times to save Princess Jin’s life, he wasn’t in the mood to let this nobody speak down to him.

Still, he couldn’t be entirely without tact. A minor insult would be enough since Kai was of a higher cultivation than William. Something simple like not speaking to the man with the proper respect that he expected from weaker cultivators.

“Are any of my sect’s Elders here? Contact Elder Yu if you haven’t done so already.”

The glare Kai shot him could kill, and if Princess Jin didn’t separate them, William was sure it would. He didn’t regret it. Nor did he care that he didn’t get an answer. His goal was accomplished.

When they boarded the spirit boat and the guards were busy making last-second preparations to fly, Princess Jin was finally left alone for a moment.

“Did you really need to do that?” Princess Jin asked, giving her attention to William for the first time since they left the secret realm.

“Yes,” William shrugged, “He spoke of mutilating me. If anything, he’s lucky I’m weaker than him right now.”

If he hadn’t been convinced that Princess Jin was on his side, her following action certainly did.

“What’re you doing?!” William gasped as he tried to arch his back to get away from the princess.

“You’re just so cute!” Princess Jin squealed as she hugged him tightly, “You try to act so tough, but you look like an angry kitten!”

He would have protested more. But when Kai looked at them with visible irritation, he decided to let it be. Besides, he should have known the sudden gap between their cultivation levels would have emboldened Princess Jin to do this. She had wanted to even before they were sucked into the vortex.